Chicago 1990

'Palm has carried out drastic reforms to IBM's original PC department after the completion of the acquisition. The super layoff plan will wipe out the Beimi manufacturing business of IBM's original PC department in a short time. Palm CEO Jeffrey Hawkins has always insisted on redesigning. Under the guidance of the light manufacturing route, with the exception of a few management and R&D employees who have been transferred to other new companies, at least one-third of the nearly 10,000 former IBM employees will be unemployed within this year...Most of them are front-line blue-collar workers. ’

‘All the manufacturing operations of the new Palm Group will be outsourced to East Asia foundry companies...being under the management of the supply chain department of former IBM and Sega employees, and senior Japanese-born Palm Ryutaro Yamamoto. ’

‘The original software department employees who have been criticized for IBM’s personal computer family bucket will also be integrated into Palm’s PDA, personal computers, mobile phone operating systems, software, online music stores and websites. Former Apple employee and current Beats president Donna Dubinski will concurrently serve as the manager of the software department and the executive director of the group company. ’

'The bloated management of the original IBM personal computer division has also been greatly streamlined. The former senior vice president and general manager of the IBM personal computer division Steven Ward will take over as the general manager and chief operating officer of the Palm Group, director of the group company, responsible for integration, Manage the various businesses of the two companies and the channel departments such as offline retail stores. At the same time, Ward will continue to manage the most important desktop and ThinkPad notebook computer departments. The Motorola A+ notebook computer brand, personnel and patents, which are a joint venture between Motorola and Palm Chairman APLUS, will also be absorbed by the department. ’

'In contrast, the hardware R&D department of IBM’s original PC department such as Yamato Labs has been almost completely retained, and management positions are mostly occupied by IBM staff. The former head of IBM R&D department, Dr. Su Zi, will be airborne to Palm Group as the chief The post of technical officer...'

On January 1, 2005, the merger and acquisition case that shook the global IT industry was settled under Song Ya’s personal management. Palm completed the snake swallowing elephant. The number of employees, sales scale, popularity, and influence have all increased by more than one. Steps.

Through the introduction of the IBM department, the actual power of Jeffrey Hawkins, Jean Louis Gasser, and Sean Fanning, who occupy the pit without shit, have also been greatly compressed. The positions and status are still there, but at least they can find people in their respective stalls. Help out.

Such a brutal layoff plan was naturally attacked by employees, labor unions, politicians, and the media. However, thanks to Song Ya’s strong political-business and media relations, Jeffrey Hawkins, the CEO of indulging in investment in brain-computer startups, came out again. Individuals are backing their heads, and this level should be able to pass through.

The so-called ‘save Palm campaign’ advocated by interested people has also become insignificant because of this super merger and acquisition case.

Due to the long-term losses of IBM’s original PC department, Palm only turned around with Treo650 mobile phones, second-generation Beats and music stores in fiscal year 2004. In addition, Palm took over IBM’s 600 million dollars in debt, and the burden became heavier. At the beginning, the capital market was not very optimistic that Palm, a pony, could successfully pull IBM's big car. After the merger was completed, IBM's stock price rose sharply while Palm plummeted.

It was not until the outside world recognized that the layoff plan could be implemented smoothly, that the market's response suddenly became enthusiastic.

"It seems that everyone knows where the real crux lies. Palm should be sought after by investors after the market resumes..."

Highland Park, the new leadership of Song Ya and New Palm, CEO Jeffrey Hawkins, COO Steven Ward, CTO Su Zi, Donna Dubinsky, Ryutaro Yamamoto and others met. On the eve of the stock price recovery, the atmosphere of the meeting very good.

"Dr. Su Zi, I heard that you and the founder of NV Company Huang Xun are relatives?"

Song Yawen just spent a lot of money to dig the technology and management talent, only five years older than her own former IBM Chinese-American female executive Dr. Su Zi.

"Yes, my grandfather is his mother's brother." Dr. Su Zi replied.

"Brother? Wow, then you are a generation shorter than him, you want to call him..."

"Aung Aung Aung!"

Song Ya was gossiping, and the door was pushed aside vigorously. A blonde girl with messy makeup rushed in and cried involuntarily, "I...I rushed again! APLUS...Awesome!"

Why is this scene so familiar! ?

"It's a meeting, Charis."

Song Ya asked her, "What? Did Alexander the Great have a bad box office?"

In order for Palm to merge with the IBMPC department, he was too busy to sleep during this time, did not have a good Christmas, and did not have the energy to pay attention to the movie box office.

"Alexander the Great was cut to pieces by the **** Warner Pictures! The global box office may...may not even be equal to the 155 million film production cost!"

She complained loudly: "Even the big director Oliver Stone can't stop him, he is furious at the release version!"

Okay! Like Hallie, it fell into Warner's hands.

The men present in the meeting reacted extremely in unison. They took the opportunity to look up and down the crying South African diamond and to fill in some of the other performance scenes in the movie Fifty Shades. The two women Su Zi and Donna also blinked curiously. Observe this first-line Hollywood star who has a close relationship with the billionaire boss so that he can directly break into the other's home.

"Warner is like this, let's go out first, and I'll talk about it after I finish the meeting."

Song Ya got up and half pushed her out: "Get out, boy...Where did we just say? By the way, the new advertisement..."

"APLUS is mad at IBM."

At the same time, Eisner also gave up his New Year’s holiday plan. There are only three months left before the next shareholder meeting. He must keep an eye on him at all times to prevent himself from falling off the wire rope, "I want this picture to appear in All media under Disney."

"It's the twentieth soon, the re-elected inauguration of the Georgian dynasty..."

Robert Iger looked at the picture of his finger.

In a parking lot of IBM, the white elites who had been layoffs were holding cardboard boxes and walking towards their cars. Many of them were middle-aged faces. Behind every dismissed position was a whole middle-class family, the whole family, and the young and old. Zhang Zhang's frustrated and confused faces look sad and sad against the backdrop of the glorious and historic American Pride: Blue Giant Logo.

"It's okay, just do it."

Eisner knew that Robert Iger, who belonged to Jobs’ camp, would certainly be happy to see, "That kid has a cruel heart. At least he can let some people in the company see his true face clearly. Don’t think that you can get anything in return for supporting him. It’s very likely. Like these people at IBM, he became a stepping stone to chase beautiful financial statements and was ruthlessly abandoned..."

"OK."

Robert Iger readily took the order, "Mr. Chairman." Before he left, he nodded and greeted the newly arrived chairman George Mitchell.

"Congratulations, Michael, I heard that Pixar Animation’s Cars will start as scheduled this summer. This is really good, and it’s also great news for our stock price."

George Mitchell has been chairman of the board for the past six months, and his voice has become louder and louder. There is no other way. He can't do much on the board except for blowing his beard, screaming, arguing and swearing. What do you say about the chairmanship and the introduction of Goldman Sachs?"

But he is the chairman of the board after all, and he can still do things within his powers.

"No problem, I will cooperate."

This year’s shareholder meeting’s turn to re-elect was pressured by Linton and another director who supported him. What did Eisner say to George Mitchell’s strategy? .

"OK, the new war will begin again, are you afraid of Mike!?"

George Mitchell asked proudly, spreading his hands.

"I don't know what fear is!"

“Palm acquired the IBMPC department and Motorola’s A+ laptop computer business. The consulting business was given to Morningstar and Bear Stearns, and the financing business was given to Northern Trust, New Jersey First Bank, and the investment bank. The legal work was the PGE law firm of Gates’ father. The work is handled by Samuel’s PricewaterhouseCoopers, and we have no involvement at all."

In Manhattan, people from Goldman Sachs also reported to Chairman Paulson, “Palm gave IBM a 600 million dollar stake and immediately introduced him and Motorola’s shares through the acquisition of Motorola’s A+ laptop company. This made him at least In a short period of time, it still retains its dominant position in Palm."

"I see, is this the same lineup that he bought Warner Records?" Paulson didn't plan to get involved there either. APLUS was able to quickly persuade Lanof to leave Lanof, making the preparations for external forces lacking.

"almost."

Compared with the rigorous IBM, AOL Time Warner leaked like a sieve, and no information was hidden from Goldman Sachs. His subordinates replied: "Warner is using the merger with EMI to raise the price, but APLUS should still be able to get it done quickly. , AOL Time Warner Group has friends from his AOL department. The current YAHOO CEO Terry Semel will also use his former Warner Pictures co-CEO to help. The final transaction price is likely to not exceed 3 billion dollars..."

"The black pharaoh is really strong in action, and if he has money, he can unite considerable alliance forces. In another ten years of operation, the Chicago consortium will have successors."

Paulson nodded in recognition of Song Ya's abilities. "I remember that the Bronfman family still owns a small amount of Warner Records shares, right?"

"Yes, but they put all their holdings in the family trust company, I am afraid they have no intention of returning to the entertainment circle to toss." The subordinate replied.

"Have you asked the old Bronfman to play golf with me?"

"He declined because of his ill health, but you are welcome to Canada."

"Oh! Forget it..."

Paulson did not want to go to Canada at this critical moment, because he had an appointment with the Georgian dynasty and was preparing for a very important personal meeting.

On January 20, 2004, George Jr. was sworn in for re-election, and many important members of the cabinet received new faces and moved closer to the political correctness of ethnic balance. For example, the one who succeeded Colin was historically Condoleezza, the first black female secretary of state, succeeded Ashcroft by Alberto Gonzalez, the first Latino Attorney General in history.

In the days before this, Apple has successively launched new Walkman products: the second-generation iPodmini and the first-generation iPodshuffle that uses flash memory as the storage medium.

"We do online music stores, Beats follow, we use large-capacity micro hard drives, Beats follow, we switch to smaller capacity but lighter weight hard drives, Beats continue to follow, and now we are switching to flash memory, Beats does not I know if there is any face to follow up haha..."

Apple’s new Walkman products are getting faster and faster, and there is a time gap with Beats. The iPod project leader John Rubinstein laughed optimistically and teased his competitors at the meeting. “Users will see that they are following the trend. I Remember APLUS himself wrote a song called CopyCat for Milla Jovovich?"

Jobs was not in such a good mood. He always had a straight face. His condition repeated after the operation. Pixar animation was stuck in the quagmire of Disney in conflict. Even the one-handedly created Apple company was as high as seven to eight. One point of the shares fell in the hands of the black pharaoh, this figure far exceeds the proportion of his personal shareholding in Apple.

Wouldn't I, the CEO, be a part-time job for him?

When he thought of this, he was angry and asked John Rubinstein sharply, "But I noticed that the Beats walkman and music store have formed a solid user base. Starting from the second generation of Beats, their single product prices and profit margins Can be maintained at a high level, flash memory? They have had a good relationship with Samsung, the main player in that field, and the lack of control over the supply chain and channels after the acquisition of the IBM personal computer division has also been well compensated... So what do you have So happy?"

"Uh…"

John Rubinstein was embarrassed: "I mean if they follow the trend of flash walkman, the style of the product can no longer be maintained, and users will no longer recognize their high prices."

This is true, Steve Jobs pursed his lips and didn't stun anyone anymore.

"Palm Group has just released the first long-form company advertisement after the merger. Would you like to see it?" some of his staff walked in and asked.

"Look."

The advertisements often show what strategy the company wants to implement, what ideas it wants to express, which people it wants to please, and what products it wants to promote, especially the first advertisement that promotes a new company of such significance. Jobs nodded and allowed his subordinates. Play.

Judging from the streetscape layout with full sense of reality, this advertisement is obviously expensive. The male protagonist is a capable, elegant and aggressive, thin white male of about 60 years old, wearing a British tailored dark suit. , Carrying an old-fashioned traditional leather men's bag, he walked calmly into a building with a meticulous and big back.

"Who is the actor? A little familiar."

"British actor Charles Dans."

"Using such an old-school business elite image? Beats walkman is determined not to the mainstream market of young people?"

"Don't worry, the follow-up plot may be reversed."

Apple executives discussed it.

"Ha ha ha..." Then everyone smiled knowingly.

Charles Dans walked into a company whose name does not exist, but this company has a very strong sense of vision for people living and working in Silicon Valley, because it obviously has the most advocating management and office environment style of Silicon Valley Internet upstarts. , That is: simple and bright office space decoration, rich snacks that can be used at will, and a dazzling array of tea rooms. Because of the emphasis on individuality and no restrictions on the staff’s clothing, people walking around can wear everything colorfully, and they are all young. In the face, there are employees wearing roller skates passing by Charles Dans, and several employees sitting on the floor by the wall, pointing at laptops and discussing codes.

There are various small objects on the workstations that Charles Dans passed by, such as the black samurai helmet in Star Wars, superhero posters, cartoon characters and dolls in the book, etc...

A traditional, older white business elite is totally out of place in this scene.

But Charles Dans did not show any dissatisfaction, disdain or unsuitability, only a restrained and knowing smile in front of the camera.

He seemed to be here to discuss business, and was led into the meeting room by several senior executives who were equally casual. There were all kinds of colorful shells on the table in the meeting room, but also non-existent branded laptops.

"thanks."

Charles Dans’s old-fashioned style once again showed the conflict with the other party’s company culture. He took out his business cards and handed them out one by one in a polite manner. Slowly take out the paper notebook, pen, ThinkPad classic T43 laptop and PalmTero650 smartphone from the bag.

This character seems to have obsessive-compulsive disorder, and all the items are matte black, and he placed them in an orderly manner.

Jobs looked at him blankly and silently. The black ThinkPad and Palm looked really different when they were put together, which was quite dazzling.

It seems to have done it deliberately. It is just the opposite of its own Apple products. Although Apple’s computers and walkman products come in various bright colors, the first ones are generally displayed in white.

The commercial editing was very neat. Charles Dans pressed the T43 wake-up button and began to connect to the big screen to explain his PPT to the participants.

"Ad fraud! IBM laptops are not so fast at all!"

According to the response speed of the computer in front of Charles Dans in the advertisement, the performance of the T43 is too good, and everyone at Apple began to vomit and gibberish.

But everyone knows that, at least in the field of notebook computers and smart phones, the style advantage of Apple products is completely unsupported in front of these two brands.

A person who uses an Apple computer can never have any sense of superiority from beginning to end in front of a person using IBM ThinkPad.

"Main productivity tool? They want to focus on favoring the business elite?"

Through the omitted meeting process, Charles Dans demonstrated the superior performance and exclusive functions of ThinkPad laptops and Palm smartphones, and once again crushed the unknown color case phones of other participants.

John Rubinstein frowned and said: "Everywhere deliberately acts as if the office style in Silicon Valley is so unprofessional..."

"The role played by Charles Dans represents the life and work attitude of men in the old age. He treats his profession with an extremely serious attitude wholeheartedly and with all his strength, always maintains a gentleman's demeanor, and always appears in the best state of work and social life. Occasions, but this style is too decayed, too old, not even American... more British."

"Are they going to push the Walkman?"

Everyone is aware of this. Music Walkman is not a productivity tool. This advertising style may please ThinkPad and Palm users, but it will not help the Beats brand products, and may even make potential customers think that it is too outdated. It has the opposite effect.

"After buying ThinkPad, Palm's transformation is normal." Some people judged.

Jobs intuitively couldn't be so simple.

At the end of the meeting, Charles Dans walked out of the building. He sat down on a bench across the street. There was a bustling stream. Some street men and women in hip-hop costumes were skateboarding nearby. There was also a black man carrying dongdongdong playing strong electronic music. Large cassette recorder.

Charles Dans watched this scene with a smile on his face. He reached into the inner pocket of his suit and took out the black Beats player and headphones. U U Reading www.uukanshu.com

The focus of the lens is from the silk scarf with a dark pattern on his neck. He demonstrates the quick song selection function and then puts on the headphones.

Whatitis, whatitdoes, whatitis, whatitisn’t, Lookingforabetterwaytogetupoutofbed...

The commercial soundtrack immediately switched to the Can'tHoldUs song sung by APLUS, the unstoppable RAP part in the extremely fast-paced.

Charles Dans showed another face after finishing his work. His body relaxed, his hands and head swayed intoxicatingly to the music beat, and the camera zoomed out. He seemed to gradually merge with the young hip-hop men and women of various ethnicities on the street. .

The picture is getting darker, and the three brand words PalmThinkPadBeats appear side by side in the center.

The black empire of APLUS...

The commercial came to an abrupt end, and there was silence in the conference room.

iPod can never suppress Beats in style...